Executive Summary

To provide wireless Internet access, WiFi networks have been deployed in many regions such as buildings and campuses. However, WiFi networks are still insufficient to support ubiquitous wireless service due to their narrow coverage. One possibility to resolve this deficiency is to integrate WiFi networks with the wide-range WiMAX networks. Under such an integrated WiMAX and WiFi network, how to conduct energy-efficient handovers is a critical issue. This paper proposes a Handover scheme with Geographic Mobility Awareness (HGMA), which considers the historical handover patterns of mobile devices. HGMA can conserve the energy of handovering devices from three aspects.